FireTV Stick Question: Hi group, We recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick. I've noticed the last few days the TV picture gets blurry (like a 6-pixel radius Gaussian Blur...

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi group,
We recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick. I've noticed the last few days the TV picture gets blurry (like a 6-pixel radius Gaussian Blur adjustment) from time to time. My question, "Is the blur caused by increased traffic on the "Internet backbone OR do I have a problem with the unit?" Thanks in advance for any ideas. Take care & ...

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

Al Beatty wrote:

Hi group,
We recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick. I've noticed the last few days the TV picture gets blurry (like a 6-pixel radius Gaussian Blur adjustment) from time to time. My question, "Is the blur caused by increased traffic on the "Internet backbone OR do I have a problem with the unit?" Thanks in advance for any ideas. Take care & ...

That is one of the drawbacks of streaming. It’s caused by two things not having enough bandwidth and buffering. So it could be caused by too many people using your “branch” of the internet. Too many people in your home using devices at the same time or even too many people in your neighbor hood. But more likely not enough “packets” of the show reaching your TV fast enough. If you think about watching something like YouTube on your computer it may pause waiting for the transfer of data to catch up that is called buffering. Similar to what happens with your camera when the buffer fills up when shooting. Streaming TV instead of pausing just drops to a lower resolution until it catches up. Your fire stick is fine. It’s in the data transfer.

FrumCA

Al Beatty wrote:

Hi group,
We recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick. I've noticed the last few days the TV picture gets blurry (like a 6-pixel radius Gaussian Blur adjustment) from time to time. My question, "Is the blur caused by increased traffic on the "Internet backbone OR do I have a problem with the unit?" Thanks in advance for any ideas. Take care & ...

It's difficult to pin down problems like this but my guess it that it's related to your internet connection. Don't forget that most people are staying home and therefore most likely to be online using their computer or watching streaming video programs on their TV. This can cause a huge load on your ISP.

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi guys,

Thank you. I figured the load on the Internet backbone was the cause as yesterday (Sunday) morning during regular church hours when a number of area churches were conducting online meetings, it was really prevalent. Again, thanks for your ideas. Take care & ...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

A little diagnostics are in order. Go to Ookla and check your internet speed both when it fails and when it’s OK. That should tell you if it’s internet speed related. If it is related to internet speed, are you consistently getting the speed you’re paying for? Check on both a wired (Ethernet connection) and WiFi. I’m assuming that the Firestick is using WiFi, and if so, and your WiFi speed is significantly slower than your directly wired speed, maybe need to check/replace your WiFi router. If the wired speed is poor also, (and you’ve reset your modem), time to have a talk with your internet provider technical support. Also, not sure about your Firestick, but all my streaming devices have a place in the setup to check WiFi signal strength, and a weak signal (too far from the router) can wreck internet speed.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

TriX wrote:

A little diagnostics are in order. Go to Ookla and... (show quote)

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Al Beatty wrote:

Hi guys,

Thank you. I figured the load on the Internet backbone was the cause as yesterday (Sunday) morning during regular church hours when a number of area churches were conducting online meetings, it was really prevalent. Again, thanks for your ideas. Take care & ...

Like Trix already mentioned, there are a few tests to run before you can make even an educated guess. We have had no issues streaming in the past month, yesterday included.
I'm sure the ISP has sufficient infrastructure, unless you are in a very undeveloped area and you don't have cable or fiber. And that is still several steps below a backbone, which is capable of handling large spikes in data movement.

Also, if you have a Firestick (the small one), those things are notorious for poor performance and memory issues. We upgraded to the FireTV (larger one) because we were getting a lot of buffering problems due to insufficient memory.

TommyDale65

FireStick 4K devices can expand memory. Go to troypoint.com and view the video. I am currently set with 128GB of memory.
https://troypoint.com/increase-storage-firestick-fire-tv/

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I have 2 Fire TV sticks and a Roku operating in PB County Florida. I’m streaming You Tube TV and no problems. It’s such a great system that I’m dumping Optimum TV if I ever get back to NY.

My guess is that your Internet is a wee bit slow. I’m operating on less than 100 megs and it works fine.
Could also be your physical connections or TV.
Is your TV really old?

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Indi wrote:

I have 2 Fire TV sticks and a Roku operating in PB County Florida. I’m streaming You Tube TV and no problems. It’s such a great system that I’m dumping Optimum TV if I ever get back to NY.

My guess is that your Internet is a wee bit slow. I’m operating on less than 100 megs and it works fine.
Could also be your physical connections or TV.
Is your TV really old?

Hi,
My TV is fairly new. I'm pretty sure it's the old copper cable the phone company is using for my Internet service. Thanks for the response. Question: What do you get from Roku that the fireTV sticks don't provide? Take care & ...

Jay7h

I had trouble with my Fire Stick with audio synchronization. Their HELP section suggested unplugging the Fire Stick, wait a bit, and then restarting it. It worked! Perhaps it could help your problem.

hj Loc: Florida

FrumCA wrote:

It's difficult to pin down problems like this but my guess it that it's related to your internet connection. Don't forget that most people are staying home and therefore most likely to be online using their computer or watching streaming video programs on their TV. This can cause a huge load on your ISP.

I agree. Problem will probably go away when quarantines are gone and people go back to work and are no longer isolated to their TV.

RLSeipleSr Loc: North of Boston

Al Beatty wrote:

... recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick ...

Try the "Curiosity Cafe" on YouTube ... full of Fire Stick information ...

Bob S

cochese

Al Beatty wrote:

Hi group,
We recently cut-the-cord and installed a FireTV Stick. I've noticed the last few days the TV picture gets blurry (like a 6-pixel radius Gaussian Blur adjustment) from time to time. My question, "Is the blur caused by increased traffic on the "Internet backbone OR do I have a problem with the unit?" Thanks in advance for any ideas. Take care & ...

When we cut the cord and went to ROKU we initially had some buffering issues like you describe. I believe Firestick is wireless? Our ROKU is, and while our internet speed always tested fine, the router and the tv are fairly far apart. Our wireless router was an older model, we replaced it with a new lightening fast one and it solved the issue. Perhaps if your router is more than a few years old or a lower end model it may not provide the bandwidth or speed required.